Market research firm Gartner, Inc. predicts that 4.9 billion things will be connected to the Internet in 2015, a 30% increase from 2014, and that this number will reach 25 billion by 2020*. Gartner also forecasts that 50% of IoT solutions to emerge by 2017 will come from startups (venture companies) that are less than three years old.

Meanwhile, concerns regarding the unstable and dangerous nature of IoT are becoming increasingly serious. Last month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission publicly expressed concerns about security risks arising from the growing number of interconnected systems and devices, and a major U.S. news outlet reported that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wirelessly hacked the braking system of a major automaker. Furthermore, according to a recent report by the technology company HP, 70% of the devices evaluated transmit data via unencrypted network services, indicating that a significant number of IoT edge devices are fundamentally vulnerable to security threats.

To address these issues by leveraging deep expertise and proven technology, Freescale has announced several key programs to help establish metrics and standards for IoT security. The announced plan is as follows.

• Together with the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmarking Consortium (EEMBC), it identifies critical embedded security gaps and collaborates with other consortium members to establish guidelines that help IoT manufacturers and system designers better protect IoT processing methods and devices. The founding members of this alliance will meet at the 2nd Annual IoT Developers Conference in Santa Clara, California, this coming May.

• Establishment of Freescale Security Labs – Comprised of Freescale headquarters and Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across the globe, Freescale, partners, and customers will focus here on enhancing IoT security technologies from the cloud to edge devices. In addition, up to 10% of the annual R&D budget is allocated to IoT security technology.

• Establishment of a program to educate startups on IoT security best practices and provide top-tier security support through Freescale's partner ecosystem.

Greg Lowe, President and CEO of Freescale, said, "Security issues are a threat to the very existence of IoT that must be resolved before the development of IoT takes off," adding, "Freescale is tackling security issues head-on to ensure that security solutions are applied to every node of IoT, from edge devices to networks and the cloud."

Proven track record in the field of security and safety

For decades, Freescale has led security standards, strengthening network security, improving automotive safety, and enabling connected devices to better fend off attacks. With an extensive technology portfolio and a comprehensive system-level vision of IoT applications, Freescale is the only company capable of addressing security challenges from IoT edge devices to the cloud.